In all my years of architecture school and practice, there seems to be a pervasive myth that my job is pretty and easy. Here, I reveal the painful, ugly truth about why it takes so long to build a building, what it is exactly that we do, and why that's not creamer you smell in my coffee.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

In a recent OAC meeting for the radiology project at MHRC, I was reviewing Phil's [the project manager for the contractor] construction schedule, and I noticed a line that nearly made me spit coffee. Phil was describing a protion of work where we were upgrading the elevator to a faster, better model, and his timeline had parsed out each part, like "Drill new piston hole in hoistway" and "Shore up Pit floor for jack assembly." Halfway through the project, they have to remove the jack assembly, which takes a few guys most of a day to do. And there it was on line 48: "Remove jack ass."

You don't have to be Freud to know what/who he's really talking about.

I got partway through my punchlist of the procedure suite.I had to go to a meeting with Merrill before I was done with it, so I have to go back first thing tomorrow morning and do the rest of the department. Which sucks because I spent most of Wednesday in meetings, including a walking-around meeting during the afternoon, then I spent all of this afternoon standing, walking, doing a punchlist, and meeting, and walking again. So now I've gotta do at least another 2 hours of walking tomorrow morning, then go to the office and work some more. (For those of you who are new to the notion of the punchlist, please read first here and then here.) For the love of Sheena Easton, my legs and feet are killing me. Calgon, take me away.

4 comments:

It's time for a story. This happened when I work for Pickles, Pickles and Pickles architects.

There was a project architect who did very good work. But, Mr Pickles the butt head who owned the firm decided that he did not like Project Architect (PA). The way Mr. Pickles would get people to leave his employ was not to terminate them, but to abuse them until they got disgusted and quit. He did this because he did not want his unemployment insurance rates to go up.

PA had the last laugh however. He did a set of design development drawings for a Fuddruckers restaurant. The understanding was that after the DD's were done, the balance of the work was to be done by PP&P.

Now PA was a first class project manager and everyone in the office knew it. PA also had credentials and project history. He had the same level of skill that you have, MHP.

Mr Pickles stated out loud to the office, that he was giving the Fuddreckers DD's to PA because Mr. Pickles felt that Project Architect was not capable of doing anything more complex. This was a first class insult because the Fuddruckers drawings were childishly simple.

About this time PA got another job but still had to finish the Fuddruckers DD's. So he finished them and did top quality work. All the title blocks stated, "Schematic drawings for a new FuddFuckers Restaurant"

Fuddruckers went elsewhere for the balance of the project. There is justice in the world. Sometimes you have to help it along.

I've worked construction. I KNOW what he ment. Squidy. Trust me on this kids. He might call it a mistake, but he got his point across. The little picture looks just like the Anger Management Tool we sent you, Pix.

About Me

I'm a (finally) licensed architect out here in the wild, wild West who kicks butts and punches lists. I focus on designing hospitals, which--between the program and the clients--is a real challenge. I like what I do for a living, and have the site observation photos to prove it. My job is part designer, part technician, part software guru, part counselor, part therapist, part spiritual guide, and part repo man. So don't toy with me, or I'll refuse to sign your Pay Application.

Note and Disclaimer

The content on this blog is not approved by my employers, fellow employees, or any professional organization involved in the design or construction industry. The opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone and should not be considered representative of the opinions of my employers or my profession.
Any professional opinions, design concepts, layouts, and details should be taken with a grain of salt and a large margarita. This blog should not be used in place of consulting a design or construction professional in person, nor should it be a substitute for having a professional review your particular project.
All names and identifying details have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty.
No, I will not design your deck for you.